October 2015 PERMISSION IN PRINCIPLE/BROWNFIELD REGISTER 1

2 Permission in Principle Background Productivity plan “The government will go further by legislating to grant automatic permission in principle on brownfield sites identified on those registers, subject to the approval of a limited number of technical details” Autumn Statement 2014: to take further action to speed up the planning process by “ensuring that the principle of development need only be established once to give greater certainty and allow locally-supported development to proceed more quickly”

3 Permission in Principle Issues How to ensure upfront certainty on in principle issues before getting into detailed, technical considerations? Policy Aims Up front, binding certainty on fundamental issues for all users – reducing upfront costs/resource Improve the efficiency of the planning system by minimising repeated effort by both developers and local planning authorities

4 Permission in Principle Permission in principle model “Permission in Principle” (PIP) certainty on “in principle issues” of land use, the location and the amount of development “Technical Details Consent” (TDC) Sufficient process to deal with technical matters Permission in Principle (PIP) Technical Details Consent (TDC) Permission to Build

5 Permission in Principle Applying the PIP Model Plan and Registers grant permission in principle Application for permission in principle (Small sites) Local Plan Neighbourhood Plan Brownfield register Application for Technical Detail Consent 1) 2)

Brownfield Register National Planning Policy Framework  Planning policies and decisions should encourage the effective use of land by re-using brownfield land provided that it is not of high environmental value  Local councils can set locally appropriate targets for using brownfield land Manifesto Commitments  ensure that brownfield land is used as much as possible for new development  require local authorities to have a register of what is available, and ensure that 90 per cent of suitable brownfield sites have planning permission for housing by 2020 Statutory Register  will improve the availability and transparency of information, providing certainty and encouraging investment  help to measure progress in delivering permissions 6

Brownfield Register Site assessment/criteria to determine suitability for housing Based on SHLAA process, including annual reviews of potentially suitable sites Does the site comply with the NPPF definition of previously developed land? Is the site: Deliverable; Free of Constraint (that cannot be mitigated); Capable of Development; Capable of supporting 5 or more dwellings on sites 0.25ha and above. Sites that meet this criteria will be placed on the register. Registers to be kept under review, regularly updated and made publicly available 7

Brownfield Register ‘Permission in principle’ to be granted for suitable sites on local registers To exclude sites that require screening for EIA/HRA (which can be taken forward though the usual planning application route) and sites that have existing planning permissions Decisions about potential sites that are eligible for ‘permission in principle’ will be for local authorities Draft list of potential sites to be subject to public consultation and consultation with statutory consultees Following consultation councils to publish list of sites granted ‘permission in principle’ 8